sudoku, crossword

There is a new routine in the mornings; clamour for grabbing the newspaper for sudoku and crossword puzzles. It energises one physically before doing the same for the sleepy mind! S has been a sudoku fan for over a year now and all his free time at home is spent with a pen and pencil; on weekends he will be clearing the weekly arrears if any. He had been trying to get the algorithm for sudoku as soon as it hit the Indian scene and has been a 'sudoku convert' ever since. Y has been a crossword fan and tries to finish the entire crossword in one sitting .Of course there will be a few clues which are intriguing; she will toss them around and the aam jan would pipe in. The joint venture will then effectively seal the crossword puzzle for the day.

I have been fed on a diet of The Hindu crossword and it used to be a family obsession. Elders at home including my grandfather used to refer to it as 'kattam poda aarambichacha?" In that environment it is not possible not to be infected with the crossword worm. A very dogeared Chambers dictionary used to be sought out and constantly referred to, for the right word.

The same bug has made a triumphant come back. It is as much fun solving the crossword as it is to wait for the next day's edition for that missing word.We of course blame the 'not so good word', or the author for the incorrect clue and rarely, yes very rarely chide ourselves for not cracking that beautiful word/phrase which was staring us in our face.

Sudoku does not evince as much passion as a team activity and it is more of an individual satisfaction for completing an exciting work. The different ratings set the pace as it were for what lies ahead. It is a very good companion, a slip of paper and a pen while we are travelling or waiting.
Once bitten by either of these bugs you stand infected for life. Happily so!

sriperumbudur temple

The weather is extremely pleasant these days and drags you to drive out of the city. I keep telling myself to make the most of the few weeks ahead after which time will be spent in cursing the sun and sweat and refusing to venture out.
We decided on sriperumbudur as a default option. It was to be tiruvallur but we were reminded that it being 'thai amavasai' it would be near impossible to even get inside that temple. Velukudi krishnan in his pothigai timeslot had mentioned about sriperumbudur and the birthplace of sri ramanujar being quite worthy of a visit.
The roads are extremely good and we reached the temple town just under an hour. We were able to witness a 'veedi purappadu' with a fully decorated elephant and a camel leading the procession! Elephant was okay but a camel, here in the heartland of Tamilnadu? We followed the procession around the temple alongwith the 'veda goshti' for a while and alongwith the 'divyaprabandam' group for a while. The route was through the 'agraharams' and stopped at every house for an archanai. Invariably every lady was in her 'madisar' and every man in his 'panchakacham'. The houses were typical with low roof verandah with tinnai.
The main deity is 'adikesava perumal' and a sannidhi for Ramanujar was adjacent to the main deity. The temple appears very old and we were told it was built more than two thousand years ago. The walls of the inner prakaram were full of pictorial depictions of ramanujar's life written in both telugu and tamil.Plan to come leisurely and read up all these stories sometime.Ramanujar's life and achievements is fascinating. I was reminded of this incident in his life; he was in search of a guru and after a long search found one in manavala nambi. He taught him 'pranava manthra' and told him that it is a secret not to be shared with anybody. The very next day Ramanuja climbed on top of a mantapa in the town and relayed the mantra to all passers by. His guru was enraged and came and met him and asked him if he was aware of the punishment he will be meeted out for disobeying his guru. Ramanujar said yes, he will go to hell. But then he is prepared for the same, if many others on hearing the mantra are able to go to heaven!
We had good prasad and also collected 'puliyodarai, laddu,adhirasam and murukku ' from the 'mada palli' and headed back to the city.
However much I regard saints in great esteem, i was not able to worship ramanujar in his sannidhi right next to that of adikesava perumal's sannidhi. Gods and gurus different levels...

karnataka triangular circuit B H S

Belur, Halebid and Sravanabelagola has long been on my list of 'must see' places. Exquisite carvings at Belur and Halebid have been folklore since school geography books extolled their architecture.Sravanabelagola is not in the same league but is near enough to these places and gets featured once in twelve years for a great festival of the jain saint Gomateshwar. The tallest monolithic structure in India is a definite yes for a visit.

We visited sravanabelgola first by road from Bangalore. Took just 3 hours on a pleasant winter morning.Did not spot a single hotel/dabba to have breakfast. Made do with some biscuits and bun butter jam from a bakery on the way. The place is full of sprawling and comfortable quarters for pilgrims. We started climbing the hillock straight away but not before arming us with a pair of socks each to save the feet from the scorching steps; my friend had frightened us that we will get back with blisters on our feet, recalling her earlier visit where they had to literally dance their way up and down due to the hot rock surface.We derisked ourselves and as it often happens we did not need to use our protection! It was a pleasant climb , the steps being carved out of the huge rock surface. Pilgrims/ kings had inscribed on the rock face and the authorities have preserved them by a unique system of covering the surface with a glass panelling! The gomateshwar statue was imposing and it had to be being 80 feet tall. The grandeaur of the structure would have been more if the buildings surrrounding the statue were not around. Devout jains were chanting prayers in the nearby halls. The USP of the statue apart from the imposing height was the well proportioned limbs it was said. It has some good restaurants and we had good appetite to do justice to lunch.

Our next halt was Halebid. The great structure was flat and laid out well and ASI is maintaining it well and a nearby lake did nothing to detract the beauty of the sculptures. Every available space on the walls, pillars and ceiling was intricately carved. The whole place just took my breadth away and i remarked that this is the most beautiful place i have ever seen. I kept comparing Dilwara temple at Mt Abu. There were intricate carvings there too but here they were more intricate and beautiful. The entire outer surface was also beautifully carved and we took our time looking over them and marvelling at the beauty. Lots of figurines were destroyed by winning armies I guess. We said no to help of a guide for the simple reason, we did not want him to give gory details of the past and spoil our mood. Two siva temples were inside the structure and two nandis were duly sitting in a nearby enclosure gazing fixedly at siva! We had the sweetest tender coconut juice that we have ever tasted for seven rupees each.

We headed straight to Belur and the terrain was interspersed with overflowing lakes much to our surprise when we were prepared for dry and arid region. Sunflower,cauliflower, tomatoes and jowar, arecanut and of course coconut plantations fringed the road. The roads were quite good and well maintained.

Belur is another beautiful place and a must see. Here the architect has paused and did beautiful figurines but did not have the feverishness of the Halebid one to fill up every available space. This place is also larger with a main structure and several smaller structures around it. The outer walls were again intricately carved and we kept looking and pointing out each and every beautiful piece. The more we saw the more our wonderment grew! They have no business to make such beautiful pieces we kept repeating non stop.

bahula panchami

I listened to all the pancharatnakritis on dd podhigai yesterday morning, the bahula panchami day. The event was broadcast live from thiruvaiyaru, near Thanjavur, Tamilnadu where the saint, composer musician sri thyagaraja swamigal has his samadhi. I was wondering how a telugu musician happened to have his samadhi in tamilnadu and whether thyagaraja festival is also being celebrated in andhra pradesh. I was told that the division tamil and telugu is a recent(!) origin and earlier it was madras presidency and both tamils and telugu speaking people were coexisting peacefully earlier.So there is nothing unusual about thyagaraja living in thiruvaiyaru.

I have been hearing the pancharatnakritis on bahula panchami days for as long as i can remember.Which means the festival is being held in thriuvaiyaru for a number of years. Usually the top vidwans used to congregate there as a mark of respect to the great musician. No concert is complete without a number of thyagaraja songs being sung. Not only that even a novice learning music will be asked to sing a thyagaraja kriti ; only then is even a pass mark considered!

But over the years there has been controversies over which musician dominates the show; the ranking game had seeped into this event also.Hence we saw that the top musicians of the day were not seen at thiruvaiyaru, which was a pity. It was then that kunnakudi vaidyanathan the great violinist stepped in and started rallying round all musicians and made it a mass movement that i saw yesterday.It is no mean tribute to him that he was the leading light of that programme for a number of years. I missed seeing him centre stage, gesticulating widely and exhorting the musicians and devotees to join in the mass singing programme .His colourful and vibrant and enthusiastic presence used to lend an aura to the morning. Carnatic music is a personalised and individual expression and to bring such musicians together for a couple of hours is no mean achievement. He will be remembered for long for this contribution.

One spotted sudha raghunathan, she has been a regular for quite a few years; I could recognise gayathri girish as I had recently heard her performance in margazhi maha utsavam on jaya tv; anuradha krishnamurthy was her resplendent best;there were a couple of very very senior woman singers who were singing with great bhava and gusto; one spotted n ramani on the flute and also his son; umayalpuram sivaraman on the mridangam has quickly shifted stage from chennai sangamam in besant nagar , straddling totally different genre of music, theme and mood!Sasikiran was very pensive and in deep contemplation and was singing with total concentration; i spotted o s arun also singing with a lot of verve. Women singers outnumbered men ten to one; not only that there were more women singers singing without looking at the books than men singers!

I was remembering the significance of pancha ratna kritis in thyagarajas life. It appears he was accused of composing and singing very simple songs full of bhakti and melliflous tune no doubt but totally devoid of any attempt at showcasing his scholarliness. He cannot ignore such criticism and it is good for us that he did not. All the five kritis are detailed and scholarly exposition of the raga and all its swara combinations, no doubt in wonderful sahitya and melliflous tunes.

It is in the fitness of things that the sriraga kriti , entharo mahanubhavulu anthariki vandanam' is the last one, paying tribute to all great people.

I paid respects to thyagaraja and sang one of my favourite songs, hethsariga ga ra ra, full of emotion as my tribute to the great composer and devotee of Rama.

sabha crawling

December music festival in chennai is well known and extremely well documented.NRI tamilians flock to chennai during this time and have their fill of ragas, swaras, sahityams and sabhas to last one year. Like camels this drink of pure carnatic music will last them long.It is true for chennaites also. The feverish pitch with which chennai skyline is dotted with performances at every available space makes ardent music lovers like me wish for december season to last for the next eleven months. The Hindu has sponsored a theatre fest in november and a dance festival in Music academy in january about explains the slow spread of the fine arts virus to the other months.
There is something very endearing about getting into the mood and sabha hopping during the peak december season. You open the newspaper and they are full of reviews, photos and comments about the performances of the previous day with vivid marketing for the programmes scheduled for the day and week ahead. Huge pull outs from newspapers were missing this time and we were told that the economic melt down is having a music festival angle to it. But then the competititon among newspapers saw to it that reams of newsprint was utilised in postmortems! TV channels were also hard pressed for creative programmes, simply latched on to relaying these programmes and they had very good viewership among the senior citizens and others on the go! They had their taste of a kutcheri for an hour in the evening/early morning(repeat telecast) and felt a sense of being there and doing what the culture vultures in chennai were doing.
The sabha halls were a different experience altogether. I did spot very senior citizens nodding their heads vigorously. But i also saw the veterans; they had a dictionary of karnatic music songs.The minute an artiste sang the first line of a keertana, they would flip open the book and note the composer. Of course identifying a raga would have already happened. I saw a techie with a net enabled handset googling for information on the artist. I saw an entire family land in a concert and had vigorous consultations on ragam tanam pallavi and the ragamalika ragams at the end of it. One of them had a small note book like what waiters used to have in udipi restaurants (they were called 'servers') and was noting down the songs sung by the musician. A compendium of sorts. It made me want to chronicle in a similar way and remembered to carry a huge diary for tm krishna's concert (the 4 hour version). But lost the pen on the way and hence innovated by storing them in my mobile. Vallavanuku handphone um aayudham!
Nithyasree's concert was very good. I am hearing her concert for the first time; no not this season but first time ever. I enjoyed every minute of it. She lives through her concert. Her rich timbre and sruthi sutham shines through. Her songs are not performances but showcasing herself. Her choice of songs was perfect and the three hours went away without looking at the watch even for a minute. I just closed my eyes and lived through the concert. It was a yogic experience.
Mandolin concert was to accompany my aunt. She is an ardent fan of mandolin and had specifically requested that she be escorted for the same. I am again listening to mandolin srinivas after many years and I had warned athai that we would stage a walkout if he gets into speed playing and gimmicry.But as it turned out it had its 'speed' moments but it was a soulful melliflous rendering. How he is able to effortlessly coax that tiny instrument to bring out so many wonderful kaarvais is amazing.
Sowmya was very good and very pleasing and melodious but she is not able to lift the concert to an extraordinary experience.
Mahabalipuram dance festival was an unique experience. Coincidentally the day we were there we had a kalakshetra presentation and we got ringside seats as guests of kalakshetra. It was a surreal experience with the moon shining as a backdrop; goats grazing on the rocks above the arjuna penace and small kids frisking about on the rockface. The entire experience was something to be cherished.
Curtain down on december festivals. But margazhi madam is still going strong!

dog show offs and koodaraivalli

Love for dogs is a recent passion with me. James herriot has done what nothing else could. It was mumbai monsoons and the author who is as fascile with his pen as he is with his stethoscope, which did the conversion.

Hence it is natural that the minute I read the news report about the dog show in chennai that I planned to make a beeline for it. I was lucky that the event was spread over two days and I could still make it to the second day. Never mind that there was not much enthusiasm for the same at home.The only casualty was koodaraivalli chakkarapongal preparation.

It is a different world out there in university union grounds, chepauk. Spur tank road was spotted with a single line of cars on both sides of the road and while we traced the line we could land right outside the venue.There are enough patrons for any single activity in chennai is my new theory. Ok that is what a metro is all about, even a slightly slow on the uptake place like chennai!

The whole place had a festive air about it and children formed a significant portion of the visitors/owners. I heard a father putting his six year old through the paces by pointing out to a 'great dane' and taking him closer for better appreciation. Since they passed me by I could not eavesdrop on further detailed description of the species that the father was so eager to pass on to the son. It was charming. I was waiting for the golden retriever show and overheard a deal being made. A rajapalayam a 6 week old, 30 inches was going for 15. An immediate deal was put through. More than the words the elan with which the trainer put through the transaction was fascinating for me. My attention was immediately diverted by some quick scrambling and jumping by a man who was being asked to quickly give a 'small towel' to wipe the sweat off a participant (golden retriever!) .Soon after a trot around the small enclosure, the dogs will be quickly taken to a corner where they could relax under a shade, just like heroines of hindi cinema would rest after a two minute shot and would be proffed apple juice and umbrella service would also unfold!Performers are the same across species!

I was surprised that there was absence of cacophony of dog barks. How did it happen i was left wondering; There were atleast a few hundreds of them, all under leash of course, but they were quite docile and well behaved. Is it part of the training for a dog show, I wonder.I spotted only one lady handler who was running alongwith her labrador. The dogs were inspected for their healthy teeth and gums first and then the judge would test their physique and also feel the texture of their coat. The handlers would repeatedly make the dogs stand erect with their hind legs splayed slightly. Like models on a ramp they had a particular demeanour to show off!

No, i did not see poodles with fancy costumes and scarfs; nor were the dogs made to do circus stuff. Even dobermen dogs were judged by their quick sprint around the ring rather than running through flaming rings or such daredevil stuff.

We made a tour of all the stalls around the grounds and what stuff there was! What I believed was portable air coolers for the pets actually turned out to to be their kennels. The colourful 'accessories' to a dog's life were on display and I spotted enough dog feeds to feed a million dogs. we spotted number of families who had come with their pets and were resting with the dogs after their show was over.They were quite eager to talk about their pet and children crowded around some of them who were more than willing to share their love for dogs with anybody who cared to listen.

When we were coming out we spotted the queues at the ticket counter serpentine and longwinded.

I would be there next year for the first day and sit through the day to see more of dog show offs!

dakshin chitra

It was a tuesday during december holiday season. I had lined up to go on a trip to dakshin chitra. Then i was cautioned that tuesday could be a holiday. It is the umpteenth time that tuesdays are non starters in chennai. A simple haircut/hairstyling; not possible on tuesdays.Hdfc bank branch is closed weekly on tuesdays can you beat that. Whoever named in mangala vaaram was not communicating the sentiment to chennaites.

It was a caution correctly timed. Hence ended up calling dakshin chitra chennai office and was told that the place is worth 3/4 hours of pleasant times and there is a full fledged restaurant by arusuvai natarajan on the premises. Now with lunch being taken of, i planned to leave in good time the next day.

It is just half an hour drive from adyar and we were in a sprawling campus teeming with arts and crafts. I had been there with some office guests quite a few years back, but then it is different when you are with family. My niece A made a good companion and we both trotted off to andhra pradesh houses. The first one had a good verandah where she could sit and paint small pots.There was a lady keeping the house and helping the kids getting their fingers greased! In one corner there was a loom and another lady was getting ready to continue a cotton skirt with zari border that she was weaving.Got to see a loom at close quarters. It is a very complicated start up process. I was told many typical houses in andhra have looms in their court yard and the family members make up the entire labour force. I have seen them in kancheepuram right on the lanes and bylanes the vibrant colours making you take another glance as you drive past.

In one room handmade wooden and paper mache toys were kept just like a navratiri kolu arrangement and the inveterate kolu addict that i am, I stood rooted and enjoyed the wonderfully crafted toys.

We next went to a typical house in coastal andhra pradesh. It was very interesting in its design. It was circular with the innermost part housing huge storage bins for grains. This is to protect the grains from storms/flodding that this area is so prone, I was told. There is a second concentric circular design which has the living quarters.The roof is flat at the middle and slanting at the sides to drain off the rain water. We also found another smaller circular structure and we were told that it again is a cooking place, a case of redundancy built in especially in such cyclone/flood prone areas!I was fascinated at the native wisdom and the story behind each of these structures.

Others in our group made a detour of other houses on exhibit in typical tamil nadu, karnataka and kerala styles. Each house also had typical handicrafts of those areas practised by artisans and some of it was available for the guests to try their hand in. We tried the pottery as i have wished to get my hands gooey gooey at the potter's wheel. It is sheer magic to see a wet clay shape itself right in front of our eyes into a cute pot. My niece was much better at it what with her tiny steady fingers. I was told to do exactly as she is doing and not allow my thumb inside the pot to stray!

We landed in a huge hut in which one could try ones hand in several activities like paper mache doll making, shell doll making, palmyra leaf painting and such stuff. Kept A engaged for quite a while. We were treated to 'mayilattam' on the side.

There were numerous stalls selling handicraft items including lac bangles. The artist was making them as to order and it was a huge hit with my niece.She chose some colours and watched intently as it was taking shape right in front of her eyes. She had a trophy to take back!

Lunch was quite a good affair with 'hat dosa' (for the uninitiated(that is me!) it was ghee roast twirled and served like a hat) and other dosa and rice varieties.

I plan to come here again.That is the promise i usually make whenever i visit any place that interests me. I want to study the native architecture and also try my hand at every activity and not miss out on any single aspect of showcasing our native arts and crafts.

Till next time